Devils Hole

For other uses, see Devils Hole (disambiguation).

Looking into Devil's Hole; the dark area is the surface of the water.

A viewing platform overlooks the hole.

The Devils Hole spring, a unique desert Pupfish habitat is administered by Death Valley National Park, and located within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada Southwestern United States.

Description

Devils Hole' is a geothermal (92 °F/33 °C), aquifer-fed pool within a limestone cavern in the Amargosa Desert in the Amargosa Valley of Nevada, east over the Amargosa Range and Funeral Mountains from Death Valley.

Devils Hole branches into deep caverns at least 300 feet (91 m) deep from an opening at the surface that is approximately 6 by 18 feet (1.8 by 5.5 m). According to geologists, the caves were formed over 500,000 years ago.

Devils Hole is the only natural habitat of the Devil's Hole pupfish, which thrives in the hot water. It is an IUCN Red List endangered species.

See also

• Pupfish
• Cyprinodon - Genus
• Amargosa Pupfish Station

Other local Cyprinodons

• Death Valley pupfish, Salt Creek pupfish Cyprinodon salinus
• Saratoga pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis nevadensis'’
• Amargosa pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosa
• Tecopa Pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis calidae (extinct)
  • Shoshone Pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis shoshone
• Devil's Hole pupfish ‘’Cyprinodon diabolis’’
• Desert pupfish ‘’Cyprinodon macularius’’
• Owens pupfish ‘’Cyprinodon radiosus’’

Index

• Category: Cyprinodon (Pupfish)

References

Landwehr, J.M. and Winograd, I.J., 2012, Devils Hole, Nevada—A Primer: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2012–3021, 6 p., available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3021.

External links

Media related to Devils Hole at Wikimedia Commons

• "Devils Hole". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:857963. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 

• The Southwestern Naturalist: "Pupfish Populations"

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